Time to return and make a difference?

It's been a long while since I added to this blog (or any blog) as I have been busy doing other things. The thing is that I like an awful lot of the worlds population have been watching the television and reading the news reports on climate change. 18 months to save the earth etc,etc. Now I feel that I have a place in this argument, I have no formal qualifications and I don't profess to know too much about any one area, but what I do have is a passion to make things work on a sensible ground level and in a basic and uncomplicated manner. So from this point this blog will become a diary of my attempts to make our small semi-detached house on edge of our village in the Lincolnshire Fens self sufficient in a cost effective and enjoyable way.

How am I going to do that? The honest answer is that I'm not we don't have enough room! But and this is the Big BUT, if I with the help of my wonderful wife and our 5 daughters can get some where near, reduce our carbon footprint, increase the percentage of veg that we grow for ourselves, increase the amount of water we harvest and generate a percentage of our electricity for ourselves and then through this blog inspire others to do the same, then I hope I will of made a difference. I have read a lot on self sufficiency and perma-culture and it strikes me that there are two common ways to go (Please anyone who falls into either of the next two groups don't be offended) On the one hand you have people who have made there money building expensive low impact homes which have huge quantities of modern technology to help run them and on the other hand you have the basic almost primal way of living which sees people living in a glorified shed with a bucket for a toilet and surrounded by who knows what. Now as I said don't be offended both ways are perfectly good and the intentions of all are admirable, what I would love to achieve is a balance somewhere in the middle where our plain and conventional Edwardian house with its small garden can become a practical home with green sustainable credentials without leaving any of the modern conveniences out and without the need for huge sums of money being poured into it and our lifestyle.


Thanks for reading.

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